This invention relates in general to shredders, such as paper shredders, for shredding paper documents and the like. Paper shredders, for example, typically include a housing with a cutting mechanism for cutting paper, i.e. shredding, and a container for collecting cut paper. The housing generally defines an opening through which papers to be shredded may pass to the cutting mechanism. Typically, the papers are then shredded by the cutting mechanism and collected in the container.
Many paper shredders include a detector deactivate the cutting mechanism. The detector may, for example, deactivate the cutting mechanism upon detection of a paper jam or upon detection of a certain state of a user.
One known detector for a paper shredder includes a detection mechanism associated with a throat plate disposed in the opening in the shredder housing. The detection mechanism may, for example, be a mechanical switch activated by movement of the throat plate relative to the housing, or a capacitive sensor responsive to matter in contact with the throat plate. In any case, the detector will not deactivate the cutting mechanism until a jam or user has engaged the throat plate.